LOWER MAKEFIELD, Pa. – The commute from Pennsylvania to New Jersey across the Scudder Falls Bridge takes 27 minutes more than it should for peak-time commuters, according to officials at the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission (DRJTBC).

George Alexandridis, chief engineer for the DRJTBC, told BucksLocalNews.com that the length of a normal commute will change once the I-95/Scudder Falls Bridge Improvement Project is completed.

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The improvement project could begin as early as 2013 and will take three to four years. Twin bridges will replace the existing span. The project’s estimated $328-million price tag includes costs in construction, engineering and public hearings.

Structurally, the current bridge is safe, but functionally it is obsolete, according to Alexandridis. The bridge cannot be widened because of its design.

“From a cost analysis perspective, it just doesn’t make sense to reinvest in that existing structure,” he said.

The DRJTBC will finance the project by cashless tolls in the southbound direction on the bridge.

The 4.4-mile project starts at Route 332 in Pennsylvania and extends to Bear Tavern Road in New Jersey. Within the 4.4 miles, the twin bridges will be 1,700 feet long.

On the Pennsylvania side, two lanes will be widened to accommodate one more lane of traffic.

The twin bridges will not be taller than the existing bridge, and they will be built upstream. One will handle the northbound traffic and the other one will handle the southbound traffic.

Alexandridis, who has been with the DRJTBC for 13 years, said the new bridges will be very important to commuters.

“During peak hours, you’re talking about a lot of delays northbound in the morning and southbound in the p.m.,” he said about the current situation. “The commute for people in Pennsylvania and New Jersey is going to be substantially reduced.”

In 2009, 57,100 vehicles used the Scudder Falls Bridge. By 2030, that daily rate is projected to increase to 76,500 vehicles per day.

“The existing bridge is obsolete,” the chief engineer said. “It does not have the ability to carry current or future traffic. It has a history of accidents.” The bridge is 45 percent of the entire cost of the project.

There are no architectural renderings yet of what the bridges will look like, but the DRJTBC stated it will be a multi-girder steel bridge with three lanes in each direction and two auxiliary lanes, both in the northbound and southbound directions.

The reason for the auxiliary lanes is to move traffic on and off the bridge because of interchanges at both ends of the bridge. One of the problems now is getting on and off the two interchanges safely.